1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hand held guns, applicators and syringes for craft materials, and more particularly, the invention relates to novel hand held craft applicator apparatus employing a simple yet unique coupling for pivoting a plunger rod between an unaligned position for fun and quick filling and refilling of a modeling compound and an aligned position for easy extruding of the modeling compound. The portable craft applicator apparatuses also employ simple yet unique storage cavities at a plunger handle and/or a housing handle for storing a plunger rod pivoted to a folded position and resting intermediate the plunger handle and housing handle for quick and easy transport of the folded apparatuses.
2. Background of the Invention
There are several known hand held syringes for dispensing fluids as well as some known hand held extrusion devices for extruding other flowable materials. Some of the known syringes include two handles cooperating to actuate a plunger or piston and other extruding devices employ a trigger or single handle to compress a fluid cartridge or push flowable materials through a tube. None of the known devices however, employ a simple yet unique coupling for pivoting a plunger rod between two positions, first aligning the plunger rod with a housing receptacle for traversing the rod within the receptacle and extruding a modeling compound, and second pivoting the plunger rod to an unaligned position with the receptacle for fun and quick refilling. Additionally, none of the known devices employ storage cavities at a plunger handle or housing handle for at least partially containing a plunger rod pivoted to a folded position and resting intermediate the plunger handle and housing handle for quick and easy transport of the folded device.
Known syringe devices employing two handles that cooperate to actuate a plunger or piston are exemplified and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,395,326 issued Mar. 7, 1995 to Haber et al, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,078,690 issued Jan. 7, 1992 to Ryan. Haber teaches a hand held pressure assisted syringe employing a stationary handle and a moving handle aligned to mix stored pharmaceutical and actuate the syringe. Upon initial compression of the two handle grip, a diluent discharges to a jell mix chamber and a handle actuated piston in the jell mix chamber forces discharge of the mixed pharmaceuticals. Ryan teaches a hand held high pressure syringe for injecting viscous dye into a catheter. A pistol grip shape employs two handle members guided into alignment with respect to each other for actuation of the piston and injection of the dye.
Other known syringe or extruder devices employing two handles that cooperate to actuate a plunger to aspirate or eject material into the syringe are exemplified and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,594,073 issued Jun. 10, 1986 to Stine, and U.S. Pat. No. 1,880,354 issued Jul. 30, 1931 to Mueller. Stine teaches an aspiration syringe holder with a trigger in sliding engagement with syringe to move a piston rearwardly for aspiration. A linkage attached to the trigger engages the piston of the syringe for transmitting a rearward motion of the trigger to the piston moving the piston rearwardly with respect to the syringe. Similarly, Mueller teaches two trigger members moving relative to each other but to express material from a cartridge. Mueller also teaches of employing a spring or compressing plunger, held under compression by a releasable element, to compress a cartridge and expel contained fluid when the trigger releases the releasable element. Additionally, Mueller teaches a hand lever pivotably connected at one end to a plunger and at another end to a hand grip. The hand lever actuates the plunger which is contained within a chamber and slidably engages a cartridge exerting pressure on the cartridge when the hand lever is actuated toward the hand grip. Neither the hand lever nor the hand grip includes a storage cavity for containing a non-actuating plunger and rather the plunger in Mueller remains contained within the chamber whether in an actuating or non-actuating position.
A known plunger control device employed as a retrofit attachment for an existing syringe, is exemplified and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,118,556 B2 issued Oct. 10, 2006 to Nerney. A slide is slideably mounted on the barrel of a syringe whereas movement of the slide results in a simultaneous and corresponding movement of the plunger. The slide is controlled by a user to advance or retract a plunger of the syringe.
Other known hand held extrusion devices in toys for dispensing and expelling flowable material are exemplified and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,980 issued Mar. 29, 1994 to Barthold, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,528 issued Jun. 27, 1995 to Anderson et al. Barthold teaches a suctioning and pumping toy employing a hollow body, nozzle, plunger and a toy article coupled to the nozzle. The toy article and nozzle cooperate to pass a malleable play material through the toy and nozzle to give the appearance of expelling and ingesting material by the toy article. Anderson teaches an activity toy for allowing a user to create art works with moldable materials extruded from a common toy extruder. Art work is captured between two plates for display.
Significantly, known syringe and extruder devices do not employ a simple yet unique coupling for pivoting a plunger rod between an unaligned position for fun and quick filling and refilling of a modeling compound and an aligned position for easy extruding of the modeling compound. Additionally, known devices do not employ storage cavities for partially containing the plunger rod in a folded position for quick and easy transport of the device. It would be desirable to provide a plunger handle and coupled plunger rod which easily swings between an aligned position and an unaligned position. The plunger handle traverses the plunger rod within a receptacle for extruding a contained modeling compound when the rod is aligned with the receptacle. The plunger handle swings the plunger rod to a position unaligned with the receptacle for easy and quick refilling of the receptacle with modeling compound. Additionally, it would be desirable to provide a storage cavity in one or more of the plunger handle and/or housing handle partially containing the plunger rod intermediate the plunger handle and housing handle for easy storage and transport.